Cpl. Don Morrish is a quiet policeman looking forward to getting back out on the beat after years spent probing crime scenes as a forensics cop.
He started work with Innisfail RCMP on April 30 as a general duty corporal tasked with interacting with the community while helping department investigations progress from the Red Deer Forensic Identification Section, which works with 22 different detachments.
“Normally, I'm a pretty quiet and reserved guy overall,” he said. “My biggest challenge right now is just learning, just get reoriented with general duty police work.”
Born and raised in Didsbury, Morrish started his career with the RCMP in Stettler, working there as a constable for four years. He worked in St. Paul for two years, where he received his forensics training.
He transferred to the Red Deer team as a forensic identification specialist and made corporal, working there for six years.
A lot of skills involved in forensics transfer to general duty policing, he said.
“Attention to detail is really the key,” he said. “Making sure you take every effort to collect all evidence available.”
Typical day-to-day activities included collecting fingerprints, tire and footprint impressions and producing evidence in court. Their coverage area went from east of the Saskatchewan border, north to Millet, south to Didsbury and west to Nordegg.
“It's just a huge area,” he said. “We worked with such a variety of detachments and cases we get a good grasp of the overall policing.”
He was quite surprised at the rise of CSI-mania, as the pop-culture limelight was shone on his line of work.
“There was a lot of public interest in the forensics field,” he said. “You didn't expect the public to approach you and have such an impressive knowledge of your crime scene techniques.”
Morrish hopes coming up in Didsbury will give him the edge he needs to excel in Innisfail.
“That's what's such a big advantage,” he said. “I'm just familiar with that type of community and the way it runs.”
